For the revamp and daily operation of its prized course, Ohio State University had to look no further than its own pool of alumni.
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Famous former Buckeye and professional golfer Jack Nicklaus recently completed a restoration of the school’s Scarlet Course. Just in time for the dedication, Dennis Bowsher, CGCS, was brought on board as the course’s superintendent.
Course management, joined by then-superintendent Gary Rasor, decided the Alister MacKenzie-designed course was moving away from the way it was originally created. The bunkers’ edges had gotten clipped back, depressions and noses were taken away, and the drainage had become poor after more than six decades of play, according to Bowsher.
The decision to hire Jack Nicklaus’ firm, Nicklaus Design, was an easy one, considering he attended the school and has supported it, says Bowsher, who was hired as the course was being finished. Nicklaus was a student from 1957-1960, first studying pharmacy and then business, but not graduating from OSU, according to the Jack Nicklaus Museum. He received an honorary degree from the school in 1977.
Nicklaus’ team started work in May 2005 to restore the course’s features to their original shape. National Golf, under superintendent Bill Sanders, handled the construction.
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Not only did the yearlong project – which cost more than $4 million – restore the bunkers, but it lengthened the course from 7,141 to more than 7,400 yards and changed it from a par-72 to a par-71 course.
The design group’s aim wasn’t to leave Nicklaus’ stamp on the course, but rather keep it a MacKenzie design, says fellow OSU alumnus Greg Letsche, who was the senior design associate for the project. Previously splitting his time between the Jack Nicklaus and Ernie Els design firms, Letsche now works full-time for Ernie Els Design.
The course, like other MacKenzie designs, incorporates the natural surroundings.
“A lot of the features would fit within the topography and work within the land,” says Letsche, who has studied MacKenzie’s courses throughout the world.
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MacKenzie’s courses also are known for their dramatic bunkers, as evident on the Scarlet Course. They tend to affect shot values, according to Letsche.
These trademark designs weren’t compromised. The designers tried to update its challenge to golfers while keeping it close to the original MacKenzie design.
The result is a course that stays true to MacKenzie’s designs and doesn’t look contrived.
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“It’s tough when you’re playing, but visually very nice,” Bowsher says.
Bowsher, another OSU alumnus, took over for the retiring Rasor, who oversaw the restoration, as superintendent in May, just weeks before the course’s rededication and the NCAA Women’s Championship that was held there May 23-26. Despite the occasional showers that caused delays during the tournament, Bowsher received calls from several coaches praising the course after the tournament.
The tournament invokes history because the course hosted the first-ever women’s collegiate championship in 1941, plus five other women’s collegiate tournaments and 10 men’s collegiate tournaments. The site also has seen several U.S. Open qualifiers, U.S. Amateur qualifiers and the 1977 USGA Junior Championship.
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MacKenzie, who also designed Augusta National, (Augusta, Ga.), Cypress Point, (Monterey Peninsula, Calif.) and Crystal Downs (Frankfort, Mich.) golf clubs, among many others, wasn’t around to oversee the construction of the Scarlet Course. He was given the contract in 1929 to built two 18-hole courses for OSU. The stock market crashed later that month, triggering the Great Depression, and the project was put on hold.
The project finally restarted, and construction began in 1935. MacKenzie died 1934, however. On June 1, 1938, 27 holes opened for play. In May of 1940, the other nine were completed.
The course is open to Ohio State students, faculty and affiliates. For more information about the course, visit www.ohiostategolfclub.com
